At the I/O 2019 developer conference, Google has announced a ton of improvements coming to Assistant.

For starters, it's going to be a lot faster than before, but one small but significant change that plenty of people have been asking for is going live: Users no longer have to start with a "Hey Google" to turn off alarms and timers.

Just Say Stop

Before this, users have always had to say something like, "Hey Google, turn off the alarm." Not only was that a bit inconvenient, if not annoying, it also wasn't natural sounding. Now users can simply say "stop" when they want to shut off an alarm or timer, and that's it — no "Hey Google," no "OK Google, or anything along those lines.

The feature is already making its way to Assistant in English-speaking areas, but it's only available to smart displays and speakers, such as Google Home. However, it's not a stretch to believe it's going to roll out to other platforms such as mobile phones and tablets soon after.

Other Improvements To Assistant

Described as the "next-generation" Assistant, the new version is expected to carry out commands and such up to 10 times faster.

The improvements are said to be big, so much so that the virtual assistant won't be limited to searching for stuff online, setting alarms and timers, and the like. Soon it can do things like composing a message and sharing photos faster than before. It could be capable of running practically the entire phone for the user efficiently.

These enhancements aren't coming anytime soon, though. According to Google, they're set to arrive to the most recent Pixel phones later in the year, but there's no word on when it'll be available to other devices.

So fast, you might've missed it. Running on-device, the next generation Google Assistant makes it easier to multitask across apps—so things like looking up answers, and finding and sharing a photo are faster than ever. #io19 pic.twitter.com/qXwIMbFIz5 — Google (@Google) May 7, 2019